British Art

Bond and the Beatles present us with opposing values, visions of the British culture, and ideas about sexual identity. Love and Let Die is the story of a clash between working class liberation and establishment control, and how it exploded on the global stage. It explains why James Bond hated the Beatles, why Paul McCartney wanted to be Bond, and why it was Ringo who won the heart of a Bond Girl in the end.

Brought to you by Penguin. Composed in the twelfth century in north-eastern Iran, Attar's great mystical poem is among the most significant of all works of Persian literature. A marvellous, allegorical rendering of the Islamic doctrine of Sufism - an esoteric system concerned with the search for...

A spirited, poignant history of the seven daughters of the great Empress Maria Theresia—among them, Queen Marie Antoinette of France—tracing their lives as they balanced dynastic duty with personal ambition in a time of revolutionary cataclysm “Others make war; you, happy Austria, marry...

Father Peyton of the Holy Cross Fathers wanted to inspire his country with a radio program. Footing the expense of the show himself, he arranged for some of the biggest names in radio and film to donate their services, and for a network to provide the broadcast time. The series that resulted featured heartwarming stories for audiences nationwide. The commercial breaks were filled only with an earnest, non-sectarian appeal for family prayer, reminding listeners that "The family that prays together stays together."

In Pardonable Lies, the third novel of this bestselling series from Jacqueline Winspear, London investigator Maisie Dobbs faces grave danger as she returns to the site of her most painful WWI memories to resolve the mystery of a pilot's death. A deathbed plea from his wife leads Sir Cecil Lawton...

"The Falcon" radio series premiered in 1943, and continued until 1954. The Falcon was an alternate identity for detective Michael Waring. Like the Falcon movies, the radio plots mixed danger, romance and comedy in equal parts. Each show began with a telephone ringing and Michael Waring, The Falcon, answering the phone. Speaking with a woman whose voice was never heard, Waring would explain that he had an urgent situation in which he had to deal with. This led into the standard opening, followed by the week's tale of adventure.

The working-class painter Terry Godden was on the brink of his first success. After a violent crisis, he finds himself outcast. Nearing sixty and with modest means, he has retreated to a small island. The island seems to be a closed, cold place. As the seasons turn, Terry comes to see that he is...

George Eliot was born Mary Ann Evans in the same year as Queen Victoria. Mary Ann might have lived a traditional Victorian-era life had she been pretty and ornamental. When she didn’t attract attention with her looks, however, she made use of her remarkable intelligence. By her early 20s, she translated articles from Latin and French into English and wrote her own reviews for a radical magazine. Discover a plethora of topics such as her life as a young radical, her journey to Switzerland, meeting George Henry Lewes, becoming George Eliot, and more.

Imagine a world without Mr. Darcy. How would things have been different if he had never been born? In a moment of despair over Elizabeth’s rejection, the iconic hero of Pride and Prejudice wishes his life away. Now, on a tour with a surprising celestial guide, he must face up to the results. Instead of everybody being better off, as he had supposed, there have been unexpected consequences for his closest friends. Darcy realizes, too late, that his presence made a positive difference in the world, and that he really had a wonderful life. Is it all lost and gone forever?

This audio edition is read by the author, Floella Benjamin. Winner at the 2022 Parlimentary Book Awards Baroness Floella Benjamin is an inspiration, an actress and much-loved children’s television presenter who is a member of the House of Lords. But how did the girl from Trinidad end up...

Everything is not as it seems during those balmy summer days at one of Oxford’s most prestigious colleges. Lorcan Greene, wealthy gallery owner and expert forgery-spotter, is hired by Detective Braine of the Art Fraud Squad to investigate a tip-off in Oxford. But Lorcan gets more than he bargains for, falling in love with talented art student Frederica Delacroix. But what’s she hiding and could she even be involved in forgery herself?

A debut novel for fans of Sarah Perry and Kate Morton: when a young woman is tasked with safeguarding a natural history collection as it is spirited out of London during World War II, she discovers her new manor home is a place of secrets and terror instead of protection. In August 1939...

A charming, deeply imaginative debut novel about a young girl who is immortalized in her father’s illustrated books containing clues to their family secrets. Romilly Kemp and her eccentric painter father have happy but sheltered lives in a ramshackle mansion in the English countryside. When...

Detectives Ruth Lake and Greg Carver, introduced in the electrifying Splinter in the Blood, must stop a serial killer whose victims are the centerpiece of his macabre works of art. While Britain is obsessed with the newest hit true-crime television show, Fact, or Fable? detectives Ruth Lake and...

"Red beef and strong beer" was how C. S. Lewis described his education under one of his early tutors. It was, in other words, a substantial education that engaged deeply with the intellectual tradition and challenged him to grow. Gary Selby sees Lewis' expression as an indication of the kind of transformation that is both possible and necessary for the Christian faith, and he contends that spiritual formation comes about not by retreating from the physical world, but through deeper engagement with it.

"I wish the spring was here now," said Mary. "I want to see all the things that grow in England.” When orphaned Mary Lennox comes to live at her uncle's great house, she finds it full of secrets. The mansion has nearly one hundred rooms, and her uncle keeps himself locked up. And at night, she...

The critically acclaimed author of Serving Victoria brilliantly illuminates the life of the little-known Bess of Hardwick—next to Queen Elizabeth I, the richest and most powerful woman in sixteenth-century England. Aided by a quartet of judicious marriages and a shrewd head for business...

An exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the making of Jane Austen's Sanditon television series. Sanditon, the final novel Austen was working on before her death, has been given an exciting conclusion, and will be brought to a primetime television audience on PBS/Masterpiece for the very first...

A powerful and emotional memoir about family and memory from the father-son singing sensation whose heartwarming carpool karaoke video took social media by storm. At first, Simon’s beloved father, Ted, suffered sudden bad moods and forgetfulness. Then the diagnosis: Alzheimer’s. Ted was...

When he turned 65, the playwright Simon Gray began to keep a diary: not a careful honing of the days' events with a view to posterity but an account of his thoughts as he had them, honestly, turbulently, digressively expressed. One of Britain's most amusing and original writers reflects on a life filled with cigarettes (continuing), alcohol (stopped), several triumphs and many more disasters - a record of shame, adultery, friendship and love. Few diarists have ever been so frank about themselves and even fewer so entertaining.